Sunday, 27 January 2013

Super Sunday

College basketball has March Madness, curling has Super Sunday.

The road to the Scottie's Tournament of Hearts will become much clearer tomorrow, as the majority of provinces host their women's curling championships tomorrow.

Curling fanatics can follow the action across the internet. What did curling fans do before the internet?

Here is a quick preview of tomorrow's finals:

Ontario
Rachel Homan versus the Cathy Auld-Sherry Middaugh winner. Homan is undefeated in the tournament and frankly looks unbeatable. She shutout Auld 9-0 in their page game.
It's deja vu all over again as Homan cruised to the finals before losing to Horgan in the finals. Is this the start of a curling dynasty, or is it another year of heartbreak and figuring out what went wrong for Horman?

Manitoba
Jennifer Jones is in the final. She will be able to rest on Sunday and take on the winner of Colleen Kilgallen-Barb Spencer.
Jones beat Kilgallen 11-2 in the page 1-2 game. Other than one blip in pool play, the Jones rink looks in top-shape, which is remarkable considering skip Jennifer Jones had a baby just over a month ago.

Saskatchewan
Stefanie Lawton is in the final, and she will play the winner of Amber Holland versus Jill Shumay.
Holland is the third-seed and blew up her team after a Scottie's championship and a run as Team Canada.

Alberta
Two-time provincial champion Renee Sonnenberg is in the Alberta
Scotties final after a 10-3 rout over Edmonton's Laura Crocker in the Page 1-2 game.
It would be a nice win for Sonnenberg, the pride of Grande Prairie who won provincial titles over 10 years ago (1999, 2001).

Crocker will face Calgary's Kristie Moore in the semifinal.
Moore beat Shannon Kleibrink from Calgary 8-2 in the other page
playoff.

Quebec
Ontario import Allisson Ross has been dominant, going undefeated. She will play the Julie Hamel-Eve Belisle winner.
Six-time Quebec champion Marie-France Larouche didn't make it to the playoffs, which is a bit of a surprise.

Nova Scotia
Mary-Anne Arsenault versus Jocelyn Nix in the final. Arsenault's vice is Colleen Jones. The media will go gaga if Jones is back at the Scotties. She has made 20 Scotties appearances. Her first trip was in 1979 and her last was in 2006. She has six Canadian titles. She can also tells me the weather every morning with a gleam in her eye. So she has that going for her too.

PEI
Suzanne Birt has one of the final berths locked up.

The Ontario semi-finals and finals will be on Sportsnet, as will the Alberta and Manitoba finals. Check listings for exact times and channels.

Here in Ontario, the semifinals will start at 9:30 a.m. They will then be followed the Grand Slam of Curling: The National final at 1 p.m. and the Ontario final at 4 p.m. A lot of curling jampacked into one day. I've got the nachos and chilli already started.

The 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will take place in Kingston, February 16-24 in the K-Rock Centre